Then I need to clean the bathrooms, swiffer floors and pick up the living room.

I need to do each of those things, too, but I'm not finding the motivation. A gal friend (who is a meticulous housekeeper!) unexpectedly stopped over today, so I kept her outside on the front step while we chatted.

On the banks of the Mississippi River in north central Minnesota (Brainerd lakes area)

Nancy, I was brought up if you come over you take me and the house the way we are. When I was growing up we did not need to call to stop by anyones home. If you in the area you were expected to stop by for a cup of tea. Your door was always open.

Then I need to clean the bathrooms, swiffer floors and pick up the living room.

I need to do each of those things, too, but I'm not finding the motivation. A gal friend (who is a meticulous housekeeper!) unexpectedly stopped over today, so I kept her outside on the front step while we chatted.

Yep, I understand completely, Nancy. You are welcome in my house anytime, just as it is, but ask my older sister (the meticulous housekeeper one) to stop by and she'll say no. I love my clutter.

Hot Springs Village, Arkansas

These are the Busy Bags I made using a tutorial from Infarrantly Creative that I found on Facebook. The inside of the bag has 6 (1 quart) Zip lock bags to fill with toys, crayons, candy, make up, etc for my DD & DGD. I modified the pattern & made a larger one for me using the gallon bags so I can put my appliqué projects in them to work on. It was a very easy to follow tutorial.

This evening I also finished 2 crochet hats for my DGD. She just turned 2 and loves hats. I found some really sweet patterns on RepeatCrafterMe.com She always has such cute hats as well as other things to make. I haven't taken pictures of them yet.

If someone wants to drop by that's fine with me because most of the mess is my sewing room that I can close the door on so no one sees it. I clean my kitchen sink, load the dishwasher & pick up things that are laying about before I go to bed each night (that's something my DM taught us when we were going up & has stuck with me over the years.) I hate to get up in the morning to a sink full of dirty dishes. Like many of you, no call is necessary to visit me.

My plan is to clean my home tomorrow. My sewing room is in my living area right by my kitchen, I do try and keep things put away after I am done with a project. I had a neighbor who is not welcome to come by anymore because she thinks that I should move everything to my back bedroom- just about insist that I follow her command, but I don't have room back there, so it is where I use it. My goal is to toss what I don't use or need and give away anything that is usable so that I can have a clean home. Somehow clutter made it's way back into my home and each winter I get tired of looking at it. I go back through it and toss out more and more.

I think what I really need to do though is take everything and put it on the front lawn and just allow others to take it, I am sure I would not miss it...lol

Patricia Faye--Your bags are cute. They follow the lines of cosmetic/travel bags I made over 20 years ago before my quilting days using purchased quilted place mats and sewing in the plastic bags and adding a closure. Since then I have made them from scratch in various sizes for various uses. For me the closing clear plastic bags are the real bonus.

I have the open door, drop by any time, policy. If you have problems with my housekeeping you were coming for the wrong reason. My philosophy, developed to keep my sanity in my working years, was that my house was kept to standards that a health inspector would not condemn. Having owned a restaurant and knowing those standards I soon learned that as long as you operated a tidy and clean to the eye establishment you had no problems. The inspectors did not use white gloves to check for dust, etc. Runners can be dustier than either bare wood or glass but the dust on the fabric doesn't show the same.

I collected a refrigerator magnet 40 years or so which read "An immaculate house is a sign of a misspent life." I keep the bathrooms clean, the bed made and vacumm once a week or more if it really gets bad. What more needs to be done when there are other more fun things to do - like quilting or visiting with friends. I sew in my dining room and by the end of the day, ravelings, or bits of fabric are all over the house. I have a lovely sewing room but it is in the basement and in the winter it is cold and I don't like being down there. So the house gets messy and untidy. It is what it is. Visitors are always welcome. I do prefer a call (so I can get out of my pjajamas), but it's not necessary.

Patricia Faye, I have looked at this tutorial and love her site. I have spent the morning going thru her website and I also got to reading about her daughter's health issues and was really interested in her use of Essential Oils. Thanks for sharing this picture. I might even make one of these!!

Michelle BEnjoy family, friends
and hobbies

My Aunt (who's house is always sparkly clean and spotless) has a plaque that says a Home should be clean enough to be healthy, and cluttered enough to be happy. With 6 people living in a small house, we have plenty of clutter to keep us cheerful! ...That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I hate a messy kitchen but between the kids and hubby there's no winning that battle. Kids are assigned chores, and one of them is doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen after our evening meal. They never quite get it all done, but I've learned to accept it as it is.

I have so much quilting stuff all over that it's hard to keep my house clean. Also, we have so much blowing dust that 5 minutes after you dust you can't tell that you've done it.

Today we are having dust storms....wind is blowing about 50 mph and wouldn't you know it, I have the grandsons today and they expect me to entertain them. They want to go to the skate park but there is no way I'm sitting out there in this wind and dust.

But I'm also not getting any sewing done...it's hard to stay on track when you have two boys always wanting something or to show you something or just chasing the poor dogs around.